


Secret Troubles

by orphan_account



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Angst, Depression, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Panic Attacks, mention of anxiety, slight suicidal thoughts, slow growing relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-10
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-07-14 07:51:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7161221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny has been having to deal with a lot of things since he first started to hunt ghosts at the young age of 14. He deals with mental and physical consequences from all those years of fighting and is now thinking what the point of it all really is.</p>
<p>Now 18, summer is right in front of him and so is an offering from his old arch enemy</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was the first day of summer vacation. Danny was hoping to hang out more with his friends and to just enjoy himself and to not deal with school or any other drama.

But no, his life just can’t have him be at peace for even a hour.

The night previously, Skulker had tried to break into some pawn shop because they had a ‘rare tiger’s skin’, which first off; ew, and second off; why? But that wasn’t the point. The main attraction was that for once Danny’s parents came into the mix. 

Of course, instead of aiming for the actual ghost who was breaking into the store, his own parents were aiming at him. 

And, as his luck would have it, they were able to hit him in the leg. It wasn’t too big of a wound, but still big enough to needed to be treated. So Danny had gotten out of there and for a second he saw Skulker’s expression. Was it sadness? Nah, it couldn’t be. ...But maybe? The young halfa still shook his head at his stupid thoughts.

When he got home, he quickly got hit first aid kit out and started to get to work. After years of fighting ghosts, you quickly learn how to do simple things like sewing up a wound, or attending a burn mark. 

Just little stuff like that.

Danny had a number of scars on him, but some aren’t as visible as others are. He hated them. He hated the fact that he couldn’t wear a simple tank top without others looking in horror. God knows he has scared Sam and Tucker quite a bit in the past.

The young halfa always had a massive difficulty with changing at school because of it, but has been able to manage. The last thing on his list for being bullied would be for his scars.

The scars he had gotten for protecting the town they all lived in.

The young halfa sighs at the memory from last night and checked on his wound. He needed to bandage it again before it would get infected. And he needed pain killers. Badly.

After bandaging up again and hiding the old bandages and taking the painkillers, Danny got up and went to his closet and got some loose fitting sweats on and a loose shirt. He didn’t want to go out today and hopefully Sam and Tucker will understand. The last time he had gotten injured and wanted to stay at home, Sam and Tucker weren’t too happy to ‘just sit around and do nothing’. The two of them have been doing that a lot more recently, Danny had noted, and had tried to confront the two about it, But it ended horribly. The young man shakes at the memory from just a couple of weeks ago. Danny sighed at that memory and started to hate himself again. 

Why can’t he be like other kids his age? He was graduating next year, if he’s lucky, and he hasn’t been able to fully enjoy himself whatsoever. It always came back to fighting ghosts and just barely getting through school and trying to deal with personal things as well. No kid his age is willingly doing this and he hopes that none will. Val has since Freshmen lowered down on the ghost hunting and only occasionally doing it. Danny always felt like he needed to be on constant awareness 24/7 no matter what. Why? Why can’t he just have some peace and be happy?

He almost jumped when he heard a knocking on his door.

“DANNY! You up? Vad is coming over for an early brunch any minute now!”

Danny held his breath until his dad left his front door. He then let out a shaky breath and tried to calm himself. The past year or so, his panic attacks have gotten worse and worse whenever he would suddenly hear his parents talking. It’s stupid, but he always thinks that they will attack him from behind and knock him out. It has been hard to try and deal with his parents constant rants on ‘destroying Phantom’ without Jazz there to make them talk about something else without them noticing.

He always felt afraid of saying the wrong thing in front of them. Thinking they might figure out his secret and then drag him into the basement and do god knows what to him. Danny was almost hyperventilating at the thought of that. At also wasn’t helping that his brain was making him think of the several reasons why he shouldn’t just end it all here. He hated having these panic attacks and thoughts of depression, he felt weak and felt like he needed to be held by someone. Someone to comfort and care for him.

Who is he kidding, no one in their right mind would ever want to care for him, whether it be platonic or romantic.

He has also been trying to avoid anything related to his parents new inventions and to speak as little to them as possible.

They haven’t noticed, thank god, and Danny was able to have fewer panic attacks and moments of thinking why he is even alive.

After calming himself enough and brushing his teeth real quick, he made his way down stair, minding his injury without looking suspicious, and who is there but the billionaire himself, Vlad Masters.

Him and Vlad have had made a truce to leave the other alone right around when Danny had turned 15. They have only seen each other in passing these past years and have only said a couple of words and that was it.

Vlad hadn’t changed much in looks at all. He was wearing his usual suit with the little red ribbon around his neck (seriously, does he wear anything else?). The man was looking around when he then saw Danny and smiled.

It was genuine and seemed to be pretty happy about seeing the young man again. Danny thought he saw a little bit of shock on the older halfas face, but shrugged it off, thinking it was only his imagination.

“Daniel, how have you been? You have grown quiet a bit since I last saw you. Why don’t we go into the kitchen and catch up?”, the man says while guiding Danny into the kitchen. Now Danny definitely felt something was off with the fruitloop. He knew something was with Danny, he could tell that much, but he will confront him later once he knows for certain.

Once he saw his parents at the table working on some small devices, Danny almost completely tensed up. It had been a while since he last was in the same room with his parents for a long period of time.

He knew he wasn’t going to enjoy this.

He stiffly sat down and Vlad took his seat next to him. Once they were both fully seated, Jack and Maddie had put away their machinery and started to take pieces of bread and whatever toppings they wanted.

Danny wasn’t too hungry due to being in the same room as his parents (his anxiety made him not have that much of an appetite), so he simply took a piece of bread and some peanut butter and drank his glass of orange juice. He saw Vlad taking two slices and putting some butter on them and took a apple and cut it up into pieces.

At first, everything was in silence and well. The young halfa was trying to put his mind into a better space and to just ignore his parents so that he won’t have another panic attack.

“Danny, the reason we invited Vlad over was to make a offering.”, Maddie said suddenly.

‘Crap, now what?’, Danny thought bitterly to cover the fear that was in him. He was doing so well so far!

“We looked at your report card and while it is slightly better than last year, we still want you to do well in school. Me and Jack decided to send you to Vlad’s place for the whole summer for you to study with a private tutor. Vlad had made this suggestion a couple of weeks ago out of the blue and we figured it would be best for you and your education.”, Maddie told the young halfa.

Danny wasn’t angry with this arrangement. 

He instead felt… happy.

Sure, at 14 things were different. But now, he kinda wanted this. 

Like really wanted this. 

He felt happy. Happy to get away from this mess for a change. Happy to maybe not have a panic attack and depressing thoughts every day and constantly needing to make sure he doesn’t look suspicious. Happy to finally maybe be able to sleep a whole night without needing to either pull a all nighter or go ghost hunting or just simply not able to sleep due to anxiety (coffee has since become his new best friend). Happy to not hear his parents wanting to torture him and experiment on him.

Without thinking about it too much, Danny smiled and said; “Yes!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This time we get to see Vlad's perspective on our troubled hero.

Vlad had been noticing things that he had wished he had noticed before. One of those things was Daniel’s well being.

It had been a year since their truce and Vlad hadn’t really seen the younger halfa around all too much. Sure he had seen him in passing, but never fully where the older man would notice the little but important details.

The older halfa was flying away from his office (he had given up the position of major quite some time ago since he had to take care of his company), when he saw Daniel fighting a random ghost. He looked terrible.

Actually, that would be a understatement.

The poor boy looked down right horrible.

Vlad stayed a good distance, but was still close enough to see the young man. Once the younger halfa was done, he lowered down to the streets below where his friends were. He couldn’t fully hear them, but they seemed to be arguing about something.

Vlad had gotten closer due to his curiosity to hear what they were arguing about. He was expecting them to just argue about homework or something else rather minor.

He wasn’t expecting Daniel’s two friends to berate him for not spending time with them.

Vlad had for some time never understood why the younger halfa would ever waste such time to protect this useless town and not get upset when others blamed him for all the things that have gone wrong instead of thanking him for saving them on a daily basis. But he had slowly understood. The little badger did it to in a way make up for the fact that he had turned on the portal to begin with and wanted to naturally protect others. That was at least the theory that he had come up with.

So for his friends to take Daniel’s acts of saving literal lives like useless child’s play made him own blood boil. How could those two not see the struggle that Daniel faces and not want to help him out and be there for him no matter what? It just frustrates him to no end.

He saw Daniel’s face and could see that this wasn’t the first time that they had this argument. It had honestly made Vlad almost want to go down there and be there for the young man. After some time, they split up and go their own ways. After that, Vlad doesn’t see those two around the young halfa as much. 

From then on, Vlad would start to look over the little badger more and more. The older man also decided to handle most of the ghosts who would attack Amity Park without Daniel knowing. He started to notice how bruised up he looked, how tired he looked, how the young man always seemed to be nervous and constantly paying attention to his surroundings even though he was clearly somewhere safe.

Around this time, Vlad had also started to notice his feelings for the young man. At first it just seemed like he just wanted to protect Daniel like a fatherly figure, but he figured out over the next years of watching over the young halfa that his feelings were developing into a more intimate way.

He had naturally first freaked out about it, but then he really thought of it. Him and Daniel were the only halfas to currently exist, it does make sense that he would feel a strong connection to Daniel. 

But he won’t jump to conclusion with his feelings and just try and see how things will progress.

He also saw how his teachers would call him lazy when they though no one was paying attention. Vlad felt insulted by that. He had seen Daniel struggle with bullies and homework and would even stay up all night to work on the mass amount of homework (honestly at this point, Vlad just wanted to drag Daniel away and just let him do nothing for a year).

Vlad had also noticed how reluctant Daniel was to going home right around when his sister graduated (he couldn’t make it to Jasmine’s graduation due to an emergency meeting with someone in Hong Kong). 

At first, the older man just simply shrugged it off and thought nothing of it. But then he started to watch more and more. He saw that whenever his parent’s were to jump into his school, the little badger would look like he was close to having a panic attack. Vlad had again the urge to comfort the young halfa in any way he can again. That is when he realized that Daniel no longer trusted his parents and felt frightened by them. He didn’t need to be around in the same room to see that. 

That is when Vlad knew he needed to get Daniel out of there and get him somewhere safe for him to not worry about anything.

Vlad then sets his plan into motion.

He had called up Jack, since he is the easiest to talk to, and asked him how Daniel was doing. Once Jack had said that the young man was not doing too well in school and that he would need to work over the summer, the older halfa offered to take Daniel in and have him be tutored for the summer so that he would catch up and have a easy time next year and perhaps have him do a little internship at his company, though he was still thinking about it. 

This made Jack ecstatic and told his old friend that he was all for it and that he would talk to Maddie about it.

He guessed that their talk went well since a couple of hours later Jack called to invite Vlad over for brunch the next day to talk about this offering to Daniel.

The next day came rather quickly and Vlad was already at the Fenton’s house. He had walked in and saw the little badger.

Sure, he had grown, but to Vlad he was still his little badger. He had bags underneath his eyes and was wearing very loose clothing that looked a bit worn in but comfortable. It was amazing how he felt both pain and sadness for the young man and felt a sense of awe and love for him as well. He shook the thought and approached the young man and complimented him.

Vlad had noticed the very faint limp that Daniel was having. It seemed to be that he was trying to hide it, so Vlad helped him a bit by guiding him into the kitchen. 

Once in there, Vlad could feel the stiffness of Daniel and heard his breath hitch a bit by the sight of his parents and them working on some small inventions. Vlad just wanted to carry Daniel off and protect him from it all.

But he kept his calm and sat down. 

Once he made himself a bit to eat, he saw how little Daniel was eating. He looked like he was trying to think of anything but where he was and who was there.

Once Maddie started to explain to the young man the offering that Vlad is presenting, the older halfa started to watch him. See what his reaction was.

He was expecting hatred, disgust, suspicion, anything related to negativity. 

But instead, he sees… happiness.

Complete joy for the first time in seemingly ages.

Than, Daniel says the simplest yet important word.

“Yes!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the wonderful comments from last time! It means a lot to me to see others enjoying my story!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More of Danny's perspective and a talk from his friends.

During breakfast, Danny said that he wanted to leave as soon as possible. His parents looked at him with shocked expressions while Vlad only looked slightly. 

For Danny, that seemed a bit off. He was expecting Vlad to be all out shocked by his sudden decision.

The young man thought, maybe Vlad was planning something. Maybe he knew or only knew part of what was going on. He had been told that he wasn’t good at hiding his emotions or anything really (which Danny always objects since he has been able to keep his secret for so long). Maybe he was thinking too much into this.

After a bit of talking, they all decided that he was going to leave the next day. They continued to eat and the others were catching up since it had been so long since they last saw one another. Danny then got up while they were talking and went to his room to pack his things for the next couple of months. 

When walking up the stairs, he heard his parents and Vlad go into the basement since Jack wanted to show Vlad something.

Once in his room, he got his suitcase out from his closet and started to pack his clothing. 

While folding his clothes and feeling overly excited to leave the house and wondering what Vlad was really thinking about, he heard a jingle on his computer.

He looked up and saw that Sam and Tucker were inviting him to a chat. Danny fidgeted for a minute before deciding that he needed to tell them and hoped that they were happy for him to get out.

He hoped.

He sat on his desk chair and accepted the call and saw two screens pop up, showing both Sam and Tucker.

Sam hadn’t changed much in looks. Her hair had grown out, she still wore dark colors and mostly black as well. Her and her parents had since been at peace with one another and her parents started to come around with their daughter. Sam started to give more variety into color in her wardrobe in the past year and it suited Sam. 

Tucker had since Sophomore year gotten rid of his hat and has since also upgraded to contacts recently as well. He was also starting to grow out his hair slowly and still kept his simple fashion sense. He was starting to get into coding and looking into getting into a good college.

“Hey Danny! What’s up?”, Sam asked a bit cheerful. Tucker also looked happy to see him. Danny forced a smile. 

Danny knew he needed to tell them. He just needed to breath.

In and out.

In and out.

In and out.

He finally sighted and looked at them with a stern poker face to cover up his fear and panic that was building up. He hated that feeling.

“Guys, Vlad has offered for me to stay at his home for the summer to get my grades back up. I also get to be away from my parents, which would do me some good.”, Danny explained to them.

For a minute, there was silent. Both Sam and Tucker looked shocked before yelling out.

“WHAT??!!”

Danny physically flinched. He had hoped that the two of them would not make this a big deal and actually understand and at most just ask some questions.

But no, he had to be this lucky.

“Danny, are you forgetting who you will be staying with? This is the same guy who beats you on a regular basis. He is not someone to trust! He is crazy and will most likely hurt you and maybe even kill you!”, Tucker yelled out.

Death would be all too bad right about now… NO! I can’t think like that! I need to think of something positive! But that is going to be pretty hard to do since those two had to spike up his anxiety. He again needed to breath, but not to show how terrified he was. 

“Also why stay away from your parents? You don’t seriously need a break from Amity Park? And why would you leave your own friends behind like this?”, Sam said while scoffing.

What.

He thought… he thought they would understand. That they would be behind him for wanting to think of his own health for once. 

Are they that blind to not see what he is going through?

Anger came through him and let it all out. All of the anger and hurt he had felt over the years. 

Everything.

“Yes Sam, I do need a break from Amity Park. Incase you have been too blind to notice, but for the past couple of years, I had to fight ghosts 24/7 with no real time to take care of my grades! I had to deal with bullying from Dash and the fact that most of our teachers hate me for no real reason and not giving me a second chance even though they let people like Dash pass with flying colors! My parents have since day one wanted to capture me and dissect me! Do you have any idea what that does to a person? To know the people who should care about you the most want to experiment on you for being half the thing they hate the most? It gives you anxiety! Vlad hasn’t attacked me or really talked to me in almost 3 years! He and I made a truce to stop this stupid fighting that had been going on. You guys have been too childish to even fully care for my well being in helping me for even offering anything to help me! So yeah, thanks for making my life like this.”

Danny ended the call and shut down his computer.

He heard his phone ringing, but also shut it off. He didn’t need anymore anxiety from those two, thank you.

He got up and made his way to his bed and curled up.

He just needed to breath in and out again.

In and out.

In and out.

In and out.

He focused on the fact that in less than 24 hours he was going to be with Vlad and that once there he could actually not have a panic attack everyday. Maybe he will show him how to improve on his powers and show him other skills he never thought of.

That calmed him down quite a bit. 

After breathing, Danny got up and made his way back to his suitcase.

He couldn’t believe he had let all of that out on the two people who he considered to be his best friends. His only friends.

He couldn’t believe how clueless they have bee. They had always called his the clueless one. Maybe they weren’t trying to be near him. Maybe they didn’t want to help him on purpose. Maybe they only hung out with him the first couple of months of him getting his powers to have fun.

He wouldn’t be too surprised if that was the case.

It hurt.

After finishing putting his stuff into his suitcase, the young halfa went to his bed and reached underneath to get his first aid kit out. 

His wound was healing quite well and wasn’t hurting as much anymore. He got rid of the old bandaging and but on a new one. 

The young halfa sighted and laid down on his bed. He felt exhausted from all of the anxiety and felt like taking a nap.

It would probably help him clear his head and perhaps make him feel a bit better.

The last thing he thought before drifting off to sleep was if things may get better and hoped that he can confide into Vlad during his stay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the positive comments! I really do love them with all my heart! I do hope you guys like this chapter. I apologize for not posting sooner, my living situation hasn't gotten better and I have had to deal with quiet some anxiety as well. But anyways, I will try and post the next chapter as soon as I can!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny leaves his home with Vlad. Talking shall ensue.

Danny woke up the next day. He still felt rather sore all over and his wound wasn’t feeling any better. He slowly sat up and looked at his clock with bleary eyes and yawned.

He was surprised on how long he had slept.

The young man slowly got up and quickly as he could changed into some casual clothing. Enough to cover the scars and wounds.

After getting into his clothes, he left out the day prior, he made his way to the bathroom and brushed his teeth.

He looked into the mirror and saw that he still had those rings underneath his eyes and still looked rather pale.

While putting toothpaste on his toothbrush, he remembered what had happened the day prior.

The young halfa was still upset with what had happened yesterday. He still couldn’t believe that his own friends would say something like that. He thought that maybe they had gotten around for him. 

But no, of course not. 

Once he was done, he sighed. Maybe that it was good for him to know that they weren’t his actual friends after all. Maybe this whole thing just shows him on who to trust and who to stay away from.

He then made his way to his room and grabbed his bag. He looked at his slightly messy room a last time for the next 3 months and closed the door behind him.

Getting down the stairs with the bag and a still injured leg was no fun, but Danny pulled through, thinking that he has dealt with worse.

Once down the stairs, he saw Vlad already there and ready with his parents. They seemed to have had a small chat before seeing the young man.

Just breath, he thinks, only a couple of minutes of being around them and then you get to be with Vlad for the summer and far from them.

Danny could see his mom watering up, but still smiling.

“Oh sweetie, I am going to miss you so much!”, she says while hugging him.

Danny had to play it cool he remembered, just breath and act. He has done this for years, he can do it now as well.

He hugged her back and said; “Will miss you too.”

His dad then he guessed needed to squeeze the living daylights out of him. After that, his dad put a hand on his shoulder. He slightly flinched, but his dad didn’t pay any mind to it.

“We’ll miss you son. Take care and have a good time with good old V-man!”, he exclaimed with delight.

Danny simply nobbed and made his way to Vlad.

He was wearing his typical suit (seriously, how many of them does he have?) and had a gentle smile on him.

The young halfa never fully noticed how Vlad seemed to glow when he was smiling like that. It wasn’t fake, it was real and inviting. Like a warm couch with cocoa in the winter with a fireplace in front kind of comfort. The young halfa gave his own smile.

Wait, what is he thinking?! Why would he ever think of that?!

The young hero shook his head while having a slight blush on him and was by Vlad’s side before he knew it.

“I will send the two of you e-mails to update on Daniel and his studies. If there is anything you need, just call you know the number.”, Vlad said smoothly.

Danny could sense a edge to Vlad’s voice, but shrugged it off. He was probably just imagining it. For whatever reason, he can just read Vlad better than others.

Vlad pushed Danny out of the house quickly, but not too fast to alert anyone but Danny himself.

Outside was a limo, which shouldn’t surprise the young hero by now, but it did. It looked so polished that you could clearly see one's reflection in it. 

The driver then came out and Danny hadn’t seen him before. He looked to be in his mid 30’s with a big mustache and a slight round figure with a suit on with the typical drivers hats he has seen in films.

The driver took his bag and put it in the trunk. Danny politely thanked him and the driver simply nobbed at him. Vlad then continued to push the young hero into the limo. Danny noticed how tense he looked when not facing his parents.

“Bye sweetie, we will miss you!”, his mom exclaimed when they got into the limo.

Danny sat next to the window and looked out. The seats were really comfy and the windows were tinted where you could see others but no one could look in. 

It was early in the morning, so no one was out to see the big limo otherwise everyone on the block would have been there.

“Nicolas, to the airport.”, Vlad said calmly when shutting the door by himself.

“Of course Mr. Masters.”, the driver said before Vlad closed the little window connecting to the back.

Wait, the airport?

Where was Vlad taking him?!

Vlad must have read his mind since he started to talk.

“We are heading to my private jet to go to my manor in Wisconsin. I thought you would need the space away from your parents and to have a change of scenery. If you have any objections to it, please do tell me little badger.”, the older halfa explained.

Danny blushed at the nickname a bit. Was he bothered by this? A couple of years ago yes, but now.

Now he was feeling happy and relaxed.

He hadn’t noticed how he had a weight on him, but now he felt relieved as all hell. He sighted and leaned against the seat and a somewhat comforting silence came over.

“I don’t actually mind Vlad, I do love the idea.”, Danny said with a small smile.

Wait, since when had he turned into a blushing schoolgirl?!

Vlad then smiled at him and said; “I am glad to hear.”

They sat there in comfortable silence with Danny looking out of the window seeing how they had just left Amity Park.

Danny then remembered something he had wanted to ask the other halfa that has been on the back of his mind.

“Vlad, what made you want to have a truce with me and to leave my family alone?”, the young man asked quietly.

The older man looked over a bit surprised and sighted.

“Daniel, I am going to be completely honest with you. A bit before the truce, I realized that Maddie wasn’t the same woman as she was so many years ago. She has settled down, the rather dangerous flame is no longer as strong as before, now it was rather dim. I had thought she was still the same, but I was wrong. I realized that I needed to set my priorities straight and realized that if those two didn’t care for me, why should I care? I also realized that I had been cruel towards you and should have not been so stupid. I do apologize my little badger for everything I had done to you.”

Danny really looked at the older man and saw how genuine he was. Danny had since forgiven the older man, but still appreciated the apologie.

“It’s alright Vlad, I forgive you.”, the younger man replied with a kind smile.

The older halfa looked at him with amazement and then smiled.

“You always were able to be a better man than myself Daniel. But that is not all I have to tell you. I have noticed over the course of a couple of weeks that you seem to be having difficulty being around your parents. It had dawned on me that of course you would be afraid of your parents. I was too foolish to think otherwise, thinking that those two would be open about it all. I do apologize that I had been following you, but I had been concerned and wanted to check on you to make sure nothing too extreme would happen.”

Danny couldn’t believe it. 

Vlad knows.

Suddenly the weight went back onto his shoulders and the young halfa started to panic. All of the times where the young man had either almost had a panic attack or had one came back along with all of the bullying and threats by his parents. Was it that obvious? When did he first realize this?!

The young hero hadn’t noticed when he was starting to hyperventilate, but Vlad quickly came to his side quickly but calmly.

“Daniel, I need you to listen to me clearly. You need to breath slowly. Yes, exactly like that. You are doing so well. I am so sorry that I hadn’t intervened any sooner to help you. I am so proud of you for being this strong. Now yes focus on my eyes and your breathing. Good good.”, the older man said calmly.

Before Danny knew it, he felt exhausted and safe. 

Sure he has felt exhausted, but hasn’t felt safe since, hell he doesn’t even remember.

As Danny is tipping off to sleep, Vlad opens the door and carries the young man bridal style out into the open.

“I promise you Danny, I will protect you and make sure you are safe from everything that will ever threatened you.”

That was the last thing he heard before falling asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Thank you so much for the compliments and love for this story! You guys are amazing! I am still in a rather toxic environment and do apologize if this chapter isn't as long as you would have hoped for. But either way, enjoy!


	5. UPDATE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just a quick update on this fic and my future for this account

Hey everyone!

I know that some of you have been eagerly waiting for my next chapter for this fic, but unfortunately I have some bad news for you all.

My living situation has literally life changing changed due to something that I don't want to talk about just yet over the past weekend of the time of writing this. This story has been a sort of therapy for my then living situation, so for me to continue to write this fic just puts me in that past mindset and I just can't do that to myself as of right now.

I will however in the future continue to write little fics and big ones, but for right now I do have to focus on my mental health and my future. 

If there are any Pompous Pep fic ideas or Avengers fic ideas, please do send them my way, I would greatly appreciate every single one of them.

I do hope that you guys will understand and that I will come back in due time to write more, I just need time.

But anyways, I do love your guy's encouragement and love!

Thank you all.


	6. Plane, Thoughts, and Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vlad is in his own thoughts whilst he is on his plane with Danny who is asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I am sorry for not updating sooner, but I do hope you all enjoy this chapter. There will be more about me explaining a bit why I took this break. But also, if any of you guys have any future chapter or plot ideas please do tell me because I would love to hear about them!

Chapter 5

 

Vlad could still not believe how much this young man went through. 

It was all so very mind boggling to him that it was unbelievable. It’s the kind of thing that you would only ever read of in a fantasy/horror book or hear about from someone who you don’t personally know.

But this, Vlad could have stopped this literally years ago.

He tried not to berate himself as he makes his way over to the plane and climbed up the stairs with Nicolas not too far behind him carrying Daniel’s bag.

Yes he could have stopped this around when they made the truce. But at that time, Vlad hadn’t trusted himself fully and he knew that Daniel wasn’t too trusting of the older man either. And Vlad had to settle some things mentally as well.

After all, a grudge lasting for almost over 20 years is hard to let go of.

He had taken up knitting and gardening to help, found himself a psychologist in the ghost zone who he could talk to and let out his emotions and it had worked. 

Another thing that had helped was beating up the very ghost who made him that miserable in the first place.

Spectra.

Vlad has a tolerance for a lot of ghosts like The Box Ghost, Lunchlady and a couple more if they are left alone and not bothered.

But Spectra was not one of them.

That witch had made him lose 20 years of his life. And now he was going to make up for the lost time and do things that make him happy and try and move on for the better.

Of course he has had some mental hiccups, but has truly improved.

He sat Daniel down onto the chair and buckled him up before doing so himself. The plane was rather more formal looking and comforting than your typical plane. It wasn’t decorated in his more typical green and golden scheme from his favorite football team, but rather dark red with some yellow in there for his and others minds to calm themselves.

Vlad then sighed as his driver closed the door of the plane once he put away the Little Badgers bag.

Shortly after, the plane starts to take off, it doesn’t seem to awaken Daniel at all. 

‘How much sleep has he been missing out on?’, the older man asked himself in his head in slight horror. He could only imagine how little time Daniel has had due to trying to keep up with his grades, ghost hunting, personal life, friends and other little things like chores. The thought of juggling all of that at once gave Vlad a headache.

This young halfa was both amazing, yet so saddening. He could pull through all of this, but to the older man it was clear that Daniel was barely hanging on.

Vlad had been thinking of getting Daniel a tutor, but then realized that he might not want to deal with anyone new just yet and he thought that having someone familiar to help him with studying would make things easier and more enjoyable in a way. Amny would say that it sounded selfish in a way, but he thought that for Daniel’s mental state that having someone who could be stern but could also joke a bit would be best.

Vlad knows that Daniel is a smart young man and that when given the time and patience, Daniel will do very well.

Vlad sighed and pulled out a book from a little compartment under his seat and started to read. He did not want to wake up the Little Badger as much as he would like to ask questions, but that can wait for another day when Daniel looks and feels a bit better.

Before the billionaire knew it, they landed in Wisconsin. Vlad closed his book and made his way over to Daniel to wake him up.

The older man looked at the young man and felt a blush coming over his face. The young halfa looked so peaceful and serene in a sense to the older man. He couldn’t believe that Daniel was making him feel like this. It was rather wrong for many to think like this. However Daniel is a consenting adult since February and also the older man could never make Daniel do anything against his will, let alone bring up this subject when the young man has much more important things to worry about than a old man like himself.

He inched closer and lightly grabbed over Daniel’s shoulder to slightly shake it. Hoping the contact wouldn’t make the sleeping man feel alarmed.

“Daniel? We have arrived in Wisconsin.”

The young man starts to slowly awaken and look around as to remind himself where he was.

He then looked at Vlad with a slight smile on his face, making the older man blush slightly.

“Sorry for falling asleep on ya Vlad.”

The older halfa sighed and then smiled at the man still sitting and unbuckling himself.

“No harm done. Besides, it looked like you needed it.”

He moved away for Daniel to get up and noted that he was being careful when getting up. He was about to reach for his bag that was underneath another seat when Vlad stopped him from doing so.

“Daniel, you are not carrying that bag with that leg of yours. It was already bad enough that you carried that bag down the stairs.”, he said whilst grabbing the bag and carrying it and holding out his arm for the younger halfa to hold onto for walking.

Vlad could see that the Little Badger looked both shocked and… flustered? No, he was just imagining it all.

“Am I that obvious? And here I thought that the years of doing this would make me a master.”, the young man darkly joked as he grabbed for Vlad’s arm to hold onto as they make their way out of the plane that has already been open for them.

Vlad then walked them both out of the plane and made their way over to the door, which was already open, and were breathing in some good fresh air and headed over to a slightly smaller car than the limo.

“It will only take a bit until we reach the mansion, Little Badger.”

The older halfa looked over at the young man who he was supporting by holding his hand whilst walking and saw his cheeks becoming pink.

‘It’s just your mind playing games with you.’, Vlad had to remind himself.

Once they reached the car, Vlad opened the door for Daniel, which the young halfa gave a quiet yet noticeable ‘thank you’ to the older man.

Vlad sighed a bit when he closed the door. Daniel was a lot shier than he used to be. It could be that the effects of stress and anxiety and other things have done this to him. He shook his head, trying to think in a much more positive way for the young man. It could just be simply sleep, he tried to convince himself. He was going to help him in any way he can. He cared so much for this boy, but he knew that he needed to keep him own emotions at bay otherwise it might end up horribly.

The billionaire walked around the car and got into the car, sitting next to Daniel, who was looking out of the window with a far away look in his eyes.

“To my manor, Jonathan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay this is the part where I will explain only a bit of what has happened over these past couple of months.
> 
> When I started this fic, I was already in a toxic household with my mom and dad. My mom was at work and my dad would always stay at home and was a alcoholic who had several physical and mental health problems like memory loss. Example being he would insult me and would not at all remember later on. He made me fear for my life and especially for the life of my mother and my cats. I wrote this fic to not only improve my writing, but also to help me cope with my then living situation in the best way I knew that wouldn't be unhealthy. Some family friends at the time of this happening had offered me to stay with them since I would rarely leave the house and would make mental strategies in my own house in how I can best avoid my own father. It was so bad that one of my mothers friends who lives in Australia was going to offer me to stay with her and I was actually going to travel for such a long time to stay away from my father,
> 
> And then, a couple of days after my birthday he passed away. We still don't how he passed since it could have been a couple of things, but I think it was liver failure.
> 
> I know that some would be sad of the passing of their parent, but I wasn't sad. I felt relieved in a sense. I could finally walk around our apartment without any fear that I would encounter my drunken father who was literally unpredictable in every sense of the word. Also our house doctor who knew of my fathers behavior had told my mom that his death was the best outcome for everyone involved.
> 
> I am telling all of you this much to not only show that with patience, things can get better. And also, I do know that many would not talk about this type of stuff, which is fine. But I wanted to show to others that just because you show a vulnerable time doesn't mean that you are weak and that you are strong and determined. 
> 
> But now I am in a better environment and am getting the help I need and will try and continue this fic until it's done and am personally hoping I get it done by the end of the year.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOT A NEW CHAPTER, BUT SOME NEWS!

OKAY SO IT'S BEEN QUITE SOME TIME!

Alright so I do have some explaining to do since it's been so long since i've even posted on here.

First I do apologize for not being as active on here as I have planned. Like I said in my last update, a lot of crap has come into my life and now I'm trying to mentally recover from those traumas in a healthy way. My mood of even writing a one-shot fanfic has not lifted too much. Sure I can come up with ideas no problem, but the actual writing part is still hard on me. This is probably related to my trauma. 

Also in regards of this fanfic.

To be honest with you guys, I haven't been really active in the Danny Phantom fandom for a while. Sure I reblogged on my tumblr a while ago on Butch Hartmans video of both the redesign and the 107 fact video, but I don't really check the Pompous Pep tag all that often. I check on it on occasion, but I have not seen anything new from there. I most likely am not looking deep enough. This is due to me having gotten into new fandoms like Overwatch and Voltron.

I do want to continue this fic however, but it does make me feel a bit discomforted to think that I wrote this fic that you guys like so much during a time where I couldn't really leave my room without fear. 

And to be very honest, I have no idea how to end this fic. I don't really know how to continue this fic either for a couple of reasons. 

I wrote this fic during a difficult time in my life and had Danny have some of my personal weaknesses and fears as a way to cope with my living situation at the time. Since then I have discovered a couple of things about myself, for instance that I actually have autism. Me including this factor would make the story feel clunky and not really smoothed in well enough. It wouldn't fit into the narrative from my perspective. I could probably do it, but I don't know how to without going back onto the previous chapters and changing things. 

Also in regards back onto the vocal point of Pompous Pep. I don't really like this ship as much as I used to. Maybe it's due to me being older or just simply that my opinion has since changed. But that doesn't mean I hate it either. Could I write a Pompous Pep fanfic? I could, but it just doesn't interest me.

So really I guess what I am trying to say is that this fic for now will be on hiatus. I might come back and end it, but for me the wounds are too fresh for me to tackle this fanfic. I do apologize to those who really wanted to see more of this fic and wanted regular updates. 

However, this in no way will stop you all from making suggestions on how to continue this story! I really would love to hear what you guys each think on how to continue this story. Even if its something small I will still be glad to hear it!

Thank you very much for reading this and I wish you a wonderful day or evening to you!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This fic is a slight helper for my current living situation since I am also dealing with anxiety and slight depression. I do hope you like this fic so far and there is more to come!


End file.
